Awareness Regarding Key Aspects of the Sickle Cell Disease and Trait among the Affected In a Tertiary Care Hospital in South Gujarat

Abstract

Introduction: Sickle cell disorder is an autosomal recessive condition, in which inheritance of an affected gene from both parents results in a disorder. SCD is more prevalent among the socio- economically disadvantaged and medically underserved communities mainly in Tapi District of Gujarat. Objectives: 1.To study Awareness Regarding Sickle Cell Disease or Trait among the affected 2.To find out the association between the awareness level and the socio-demographic profile of the subjects. Methodology: Descriptive Cross-sectional study was carried out in Janak Smarak hospital in Vyara Town, Tapi District, for a period of one year and minimum of 75 persons with SCD and 150 persons with SCT were taken for the study. Results: The overall Knowledge regarding disease was averaging only at 15 %. The categorization of subject having “Good” or “Not so good” among the subject were predominantly poor with a majority of them showing Not so Good condition (84%) whereas only 16% showed good Knowledge. Conclusion: The overall Knowledge regarding disease was averaging only at 15 % which showed that the awareness seems to be grossly deficit even among the affected. It hence shows that the counseling of the disease among the affected was not adequate. So Counselling & IEC can play a very important role to eliminate the disease from the community.